


Voices

by coffee_mage



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, maybe Clint/Coulson if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-12
Updated: 2012-05-12
Packaged: 2017-11-05 04:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/402639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffee_mage/pseuds/coffee_mage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What did Clint hear when Loki had him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Voices

He can hear the voice in his ear through the whole op. _It’s all right. Fire. Just keep firing. Op’s gone bad. This is just like wetworks. You can handle this. It’ll be okay. Just keep firing._

Every time he pauses, hesitates, the voice reassures him. _You’re fine. It’s okay. Follow orders, Barton. Follow orders. No one is going to hold this against you. You’re saving more people than you’re hurting. I promise. It’s fine._

Every arrow, he gets a compliment. _Good work, Barton. Nice shot. Almost didn’t think you were gonna make that one—you like drama, don’t you?_

Every time he thinks ‘something isn’t right’ the voice is there, keeping him, holding him close. _No, nothing’s right about this. This should never have happened. It’s horrible, but it’s not your fault and if you just keep going, we can fix this. It’s still salvageable._

Then he sees her, Nat, and she’s right there and she sees him and the voice tells him what to do. _Subdue her. Take her down. She’s compromised, Barton. She’s compromised and she is a liability to the op. You can apologize to her later, but the last thing she would want to do is screw SHIELD. You know that._

When he wakes up, the voice is gone and he is flung into battle. He fights with everything he has, fights for everything he is and he doesn’t back down. He was the one compromised and the only way to make it up is to fight, to save the ones he didn’t kill.

When it’s all over and the shawarma is eaten and he’s hobbling away for medical attention, Nat tells him what brought the others together. Phil Coulson is dead.

Deep down inside, where he’ll never tell anyone and where he doesn’t want to look himself, he is glad. Because if he ever heard that voice again, he’d throw up. He knows it. He swears to kill Loki one day, for destroying Coulson like that, for ruining his memories of the best fucking handler he ever had.

When Coulson shows up six months later, thinner, paler and quieter, he opens his mouth. _Hello._ And Clint throws up on his shoes. He’ll kill Loki for that, too.


End file.
